National Unity Government

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, warned Tuesday that the current Palestinian political crisis was intolerable and suggested he would dismiss the Hamas-led government if the rival factions could not agree soon on a national unity government. "To maintain the status quo is impossible," Abbas said in remarks broadcast on Palestinian television. "As the person in charge, I am obligated to consider all options that could get us out of this crisis." Abbas' speech, delivered from the West Bank city of Ramallah, was the clearest signal yet that he was prepared to act against the Hamas government.

It is election season in Lebanon, and Hussein H., a jobless 24-year-old from south Beirut, is looking forward to selling his vote to the highest bidder. "Whoever pays the most will get my vote," he said. "I won't accept less than $800." He may get more. The parliamentary elections in June are shaping up to be among the most expensive ever held anywhere, with hundreds of millions of dollars streaming into this small country from around the globe. Lebanon has long been seen as a battleground for regional influence, and now, with no more foreign armies on the ground, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region are arming their allies here with campaign money in place of weapons.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency provided the following news briefs. Britain will talk to Hezbollah LONDON (JTA) - Britain will talk to Hezbollah, the country's Foreign Minister in charge of the Middle East announced. Speaking to lawmakers last Thursday, Bill Rammell said the British government will authorize "carefully selected" contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah, which is represented in the Lebanese parliament. The Lebanon-based group's military arm will remain banned in Britain.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency provided the following news briefs. Britain will talk to Hezbollah LONDON (JTA) - Britain will talk to Hezbollah, the country's Foreign Minister in charge of the Middle East announced. Speaking to lawmakers last Thursday, Bill Rammell said the British government will authorize "carefully selected" contacts with the political wing of Hezbollah, which is represented in the Lebanese parliament. The Lebanon-based group's military arm will remain banned in Britain.

JERUSALEM -- All the players on Israel`s complex political game board quietly tried to reposition themselves on Tuesday, every one of them certain that Trade Minister Ariel Sharon`s unexpected announcement of his resignation from the government on Monday could improve their fortunes. While Israeli leaders from all sides were stunned by the televised spectacle of the chaotic meeting of the Likud Central Committee on Monday night, at first glance it appeared that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir`s fortunes were rising at Sharon`s expense.

It is election season in Lebanon, and Hussein H., a jobless 24-year-old from south Beirut, is looking forward to selling his vote to the highest bidder. "Whoever pays the most will get my vote," he said. "I won't accept less than $800." He may get more. The parliamentary elections in June are shaping up to be among the most expensive ever held anywhere, with hundreds of millions of dollars streaming into this small country from around the globe. Lebanon has long been seen as a battleground for regional influence, and now, with no more foreign armies on the ground, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region are arming their allies here with campaign money in place of weapons.

hhe ruthless crushing of west Beirut`s Sunni Moslem Mourabitoun militia and the political backlash it provoked Wednesday threw the Lebanese again at the mercy of Syrian President Hafez Assad. It was Assad who made the formation of Lebanon`s "national unity" government possible in April last year, and it will be Assad who decides who to punish and who to reward for the worst street fighting in the mainly Moslem half of the capital in more than a year. Syria`s influence over Lebanon will be exerted in the manner that it has been over the past year -- a phone call here, a phone call there, a nod here and a wink there, all underscored by Syria`s considerable military and political might.

Strange, how conservative hawks -- Churchill, de Gaulle, Nixon, now Ariel Sharon -- can survive years in the political wilderness until warlike circumstances impel their nations to turn to them. This week's 2-to-1 landslide in Israel was not an election that hinged on a sudden popularity of Sharon, or the collapse of support for Ehud Barak after Palestinians would not accept his virtual surrender at Camp David. This election marked a reinvigoration of Zionism. Though many Israelis had flirted with "post-Zionism," evidently a strong majority of Jews in Israel awakened to realize that a secular triumph at home and a dreamy belief in the good will of implacable enemies on their borders would lead to the doom of a Jewish state.

The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, said Sunday that Hamas and other factions had been invited to join the Palestinian government as it prepared to take control of areas evacuated by Israel in the Gaza Strip. However, Hamas has not decided whether to accept a role in a national unity government, and is pressing for parliamentary elections, in which it is expected to make a strong showing at the expense of Fatah, the movement that dominates the current Palestinian leadership. "We will have a dialogue with all our brothers this week, and we hope we will reach a national unity government," Qureia told reporters in Ramallah on the West Bank.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that the governing Hamas movement and his rival Fatah party have agreed on the principles of a power-sharing government and may soon form a new Cabinet to lead the beleaguered Palestinian Authority. Under the plan, Abbas, the authority's president, is to dissolve the current Hamas-led Cabinet within 48 hours. Hamas officials said Abbas would then nominate the current Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to assemble a coalition cabinet that would include members of his party, Fatah, other factions, and so-called technocrats unaligned with the leading movements.

The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, warned Tuesday that the current Palestinian political crisis was intolerable and suggested he would dismiss the Hamas-led government if the rival factions could not agree soon on a national unity government. "To maintain the status quo is impossible," Abbas said in remarks broadcast on Palestinian television. "As the person in charge, I am obligated to consider all options that could get us out of this crisis." Abbas' speech, delivered from the West Bank city of Ramallah, was the clearest signal yet that he was prepared to act against the Hamas government.

Strange, how conservative hawks -- Churchill, de Gaulle, Nixon, now Ariel Sharon -- can survive years in the political wilderness until warlike circumstances impel their nations to turn to them. This week's 2-to-1 landslide in Israel was not an election that hinged on a sudden popularity of Sharon, or the collapse of support for Ehud Barak after Palestinians would not accept his virtual surrender at Camp David. This election marked a reinvigoration of Zionism. Though many Israelis had flirted with "post-Zionism," evidently a strong majority of Jews in Israel awakened to realize that a secular triumph at home and a dreamy belief in the good will of implacable enemies on their borders would lead to the doom of a Jewish state.

JERUSALEM -- All the players on Israel`s complex political game board quietly tried to reposition themselves on Tuesday, every one of them certain that Trade Minister Ariel Sharon`s unexpected announcement of his resignation from the government on Monday could improve their fortunes. While Israeli leaders from all sides were stunned by the televised spectacle of the chaotic meeting of the Likud Central Committee on Monday night, at first glance it appeared that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir`s fortunes were rising at Sharon`s expense.

hhe ruthless crushing of west Beirut`s Sunni Moslem Mourabitoun militia and the political backlash it provoked Wednesday threw the Lebanese again at the mercy of Syrian President Hafez Assad. It was Assad who made the formation of Lebanon`s "national unity" government possible in April last year, and it will be Assad who decides who to punish and who to reward for the worst street fighting in the mainly Moslem half of the capital in more than a year. Syria`s influence over Lebanon will be exerted in the manner that it has been over the past year -- a phone call here, a phone call there, a nod here and a wink there, all underscored by Syria`s considerable military and political might.

The Israeli elections produced not only a winner but a strong winner and, from an American vantage point, the right winner. By his record as a military man and war hero, a moderate and a secularist, Gen. Barak arrives in power in position to renew a peace process that, fairly or not, his pugnacious predecessor was widely blamed for freezing. By his wide margin, he earns an opportunity to enlist the defeated Likud into a national unity government. The rationale for it would be that the crucial decisions Israel now faces would be better taken with multiparty support.